Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399900
FALL 2021 31 Maya was designed to be a representation of female empowerment. "I hope little girls see the strong characters we're portraying for them through Maya, and that they see—they have to pave the way," says Equihua. Building Char acter Maya hails from the Kingdom of Teca, where her father and mother serve as king and queen. Her mother was once a famed Eagle Warrior, and Maya doesn't understand why they don't want her to be one, too. She is a rebellious teenage princess who was born from the contradictions Gutiérrez found between his lived experience and the lack of female heroes in Mexican folk tales. He calls his wife, mother, and sister "real warriors." Because of this, he says, "I wanted to hack the popular culture and create this myth about Maya." He explains he chose the name because it exists around the world, from Africa and Asia to Europe and Latin America. "She was to be every woman." Maya is strongly based on Sandra Equihua, Gutiérrez's wife, who served as Creative Consultant as well as Lead Character Designer along with Gutiérrez. Also hailing from Tijuana, Equihua met Gutierrez when he was 18 and she was 17—at her most rebellious stage. "I think he really liked that," she says. "I had to go against [my parents] rules in order to live. So he decided to take that part [of me] and inject it into Maya." Like Equihua's parents, Maya's shelter her. But Maya, Equihua says, " thinks adventure is life. And vice versa, life is an adventure. FALL 2021 31